This week’s WCHL Hometown Heroes are Sheryl and Dick Forbis. Two pillars of the community who use their skillsets and spare time to help those in need through Habitat for Humanity and the Augustine Project, among other activities!

The Augustine Project is a non-profit organization that works to improve the reading, writing and spelling abilities of low-income children and teens struggling with literacy skills. Tutors work with children individually for 60 sessions or more of 45 minutes.

“It’s a joy to be a tutor and to be a volunteer with the Augustine Literacy project,” said Sheryl. “The children change our lives as much as we might change theirs.”

Sheryl has worked with the ALP for years, serving as both a volunteer and as the board chair. With Augustine tutors in more than 125 schools and after school programs all around the Triangle area, her contributions to the literacy of these young people that will shape our future communities are significant.

In addition to working with the ALP, Sheryl also has extensive involvement in Church Women United, a diverse group that has been gathering for more than 50 years to “pray for peace, justice and dignity for all people.”

Both Sheryl and Dick Forbis also spend a lot of time working for Habitat for Humanity, with Dick heading projects in Chatham County.

As he explains, “I first got involved with a neighbor asking me to come out and build with them on a ‘volunteer blitz week’ they had down in Pittsboro.  I was still working at the university at the time, but I took a day off, went down, and had the best time working with other volunteers … the family was there, they were working on the house also. To me, that seemed like a perfect way to use my woodworking skills and my interest in doing something in the community.”

Dick and Sheryl made a recent trip to Mongolia to help build a house for those with desperate need for adequate and safe housing. Both focus on their local community and Chatham County is what makes them our Hometown Heroes.

“We are involved in building homes all over North Carolina, particularly in Chatham habitat,” said Sheryl. “That too is a joy, to see people be able to purchase an affordable, safe home.”

Sheryl and Dick are active members of the Church of the Holy Family, and their faith takes center stage in their lives, both together and as individuals.

“We both feel that in retirement we still have a lot of work to do,” said Sheryl. “My father used to say that you need a reason to get up every morning, and that reason should be important.”

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